Art Directors · SOC 27-1011

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Art Directorss

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025U.S. metropolitan areas

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for art directors. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked (4 such areas are excluded here). Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Top 25 of 116 metro areas

Art Directors: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$170,140	600	0.5
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$165,210	2,390	1.0
3	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$153,890	50	0.4
4	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$151,820	1,550	0.6
5	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$145,410	880	0.7
6	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$142,990	8,980	0.9
7	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$137,560	6,590	1.1
8	Waterbury-Shelton, CT	$133,680	70	0.4
9	Worcester, MA	$131,240	100	0.3
10	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$126,410	40	0.4
11	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$126,050	630	0.4
12	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$124,610	520	0.3
13	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$123,420	30	0.1
14	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$121,920	100	0.3
15	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$121,540	90	0.4
16	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$119,020	780	0.4
17	Syracuse, NY	$118,560	60	0.2
18	Savannah, GA	$117,650	40	0.2
19	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$117,110	60	0.2
20	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$113,180	180	0.3
21	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$112,050	30	0.2
22	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$111,480	1,190	0.4
23	Portland-South Portland, ME	$110,420	40	0.2
24	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$110,180	40	0.2
25	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$109,500	50	0.3

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Art Directors overview.

About this data. Estimates are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 release, retrieved from bls.gov/oes/tables.htm on July 24, 2026. OEWS estimates describe metropolitan/nonmetropolitan areas and states — not city limits — and are not designed for year-over-year comparisons. See BLS methodology, our plain-English methodology, and sources. CitySalaryData is independent and not affiliated with BLS.